EIT: Adoption mitätöiminen adoptiovanhemman kuoleman jälkeen loukkasi lapsen oikeutta perhe-elämän ja omaisuuden suojaan

Euroopan ihmisoikeustuomioistuin (EIT) on tänään antamassaan tuomiossa katsonut, että adoption mitätöimisessä 31 vuotta sen vahvistamisesta ja 18 vuotta sen jälkeen, kun adoptioäiti oli kuollut, ei ollut otettu huomioon lapsen etua eikä päätöstä ollut perusteltu asian luonteen vaatimalla huolellisuudella.

EIT:n lehdistötiedotteesta:

In today’s Chamber judgment in the case of Zaieţ v. Romania (application no. 44958/05) the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been:

a violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights, and
a violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (protection of property) to the Convention.

The case concerned the annulment of a woman’s adoption, at the instigation of her adoptive sister, 31 years after it had been approved and 18 years after the death of their adoptive mother. This was the first occasion on which the Court had to consider the annulment of an adoption order in a context where the adoptive parent was dead and the adopted child had long reached adulthood.

The Court found in particular that such a radical measure as annulling an adoption had to be supported by relevant and sufficient reasons; however, the annulment decision in this case had been vague and lacked justification. In any event, the Court considered that the annulment of an adoption should not even be envisaged as a measure against an adopted child and underlined that in legal provisions and decisions on adoption matters, the interests of the child had to remain paramount.

Koko lehdistötiedote, missä myös linkki koko tuomioon, löytyy täältä: here